


I Will Always Find You

by captainswanismyendgame



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 06:40:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5487461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainswanismyendgame/pseuds/captainswanismyendgame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Storybrooke gang enters The Underworld, familiar faces aide them in their search for Killian Jones. My take on what happened when 5A ended.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Will Always Find You

**Author's Note:**

> My Captain Swan Secret Santa gift for gusenitsaa on Tumblr. She asked for a canon continuance, and this is where my mind went. You guys just reap the benefits. :) Hope you enjoy.

It had been less than a day since they had arrived in the Underworld, and there was still no sign of Killian.

They had stumbled out of Charon’s ferry through a cold, dense fog; when it dissipated, it revealed what seemed to be an abandoned, run-down Storybrooke. Shops were closed with windows bashed from the outside; glass shatters covering in the street like fresh-fallen snow. Cars—including Emma’s yellow Bug—were destroyed by what seemed to be fire damage. And the clock tower had been demolished, the top of which was lying in the middle of the main road, its clock face stuck on 8:15. It seemed at the time that there was no one else there except for their group until the screeching of tires made them all jump. A familiar black and white luxury vehicle sped towards them, stopping only inches away from Emma’s body as its brakes howled with the sudden stop.

The engine died, and out came a woman with the distinctive voice and even more distinctive hair style.

“Emma, dear. So lovely to see you again,” the woman said sarcastically. 

“Cruella?” Emma replied.

“You were expecting someone else? After all, you were the one that put me here.”

“And where exactly is here? Is this hell?” Mary Margaret chimed in.

“Not exactly, but all in due time. I’m supposed to take you all to the mayor’s office.”

“My office? But why?” said Regina.

“Not yours, dahling, but this person is eager to see you, I can guarantee that.”

With that, Cruella began leading the group towards the location of the Underworld’s version of Regina’s office.

***

“Mother?”

“Regina, dear. How wonderful to see you!” Cora Mills sat beaming at her daughter from behind the mayor’s desk. Her hair wasn’t in her normal teased up-do, but down in a slight, soft wave. It was definitely unnerving seeing her looking so…modern. “Can’t say I can say the same for most of you here,” Cora said, scanning the group. Her eyes landed on Robin. “So, she ended up finding you after all, did she did?”

Smiling slightly, he answered, “It would appear so.”

“How disappointing…”

Regina decided to but in by saying, “Mother, where are we? Why does Hell look like Storybrooke?”

Rising from the chair, Cora moved around to the front of the desk in order to stand right in front of Regina. “This isn’t exactly Hell, my dear. This is the Underworld. It is the place where tormented souls are placed; the ones with unfinished business. And it looks that way, because for each person here in this room, it where the associate with home. Yes, even though most of you have lived in the Enchanted Forest, deep down inside you now consider Storybrooke your home. The Underworld takes what is most familiar to you and twists it.”

“If that is the case, then you would be saint by now,” Regina butted in.

“Now, dear, let’s not be hostile. After all, how else are you going to be able to get the pirate back unless it was with my help?”

The sudden mention of “the pirate” made Emma push out of the way of the rest of the crowd. She stood face-to-face with Cora as she whispered menacingly through gritted teeth. “You know where Killian is?”

“Of course I do, Emma.”

“Care to enlighten us, then?”

Cora looked down at her feet, seemingly gathering her thoughts. As she looked back into the eyes of the Savior, she said, “My dear, Hook is with Hades.”

“Killian is with Hades, The God of the Underworld?” Henry said, trying to comprehend the information that Cora had just dropped on them all.

“Yes, Henry. And he’s become one of his favorite torture subjects,” she answered, cackling slightly.

“You’re going to take us to him.” It was not a request on Emma’s part; it was a demand. She wasn’t going to come all this way for her plan to stall out at the hands of this devious woman.

“And what makes you think I will do anything of the sort?”

“Because, Mother, if you want me to leave here on good terms with you, helping us get to Killian is the only way to do so.” Regina looked at her mother with a stern, matter-of-fact glare. She was not the little girl that would listen to what her mother would tell her to do or how to act.

Visibly shaken by her daughter’s confession, Cora reacted in a way none of the hero’s expected: she agreed. “I will help you get to Hook if that means that my daughter and I can finally seek the closure we need.” Regina’s weakness had always been her mother, and likewise Regina for Cora. They really needed to finally hash out the past.

“Right, so where exactly is Hades keeping Killian?” Mary Margaret asked, interrupting the tense mother-daughter moment.

“The Savior’s house.”

“The loft?” David asked.

“No, Dad. My house—our house. Operation Light Swan, right, kid?” Emma said, turning to Henry and nodding in his direction. “By the way, we haven’t given this operation a name.”

Smiling, Henry said, “How about, ‘Operation Grappling Hook?’”

Everyone laughed, but in a good way. At that moment, “Operation Grappling Hook” was a go.

***

Time seemed to drag a lot longer in the Underworld. A trip that would have normally taken about 20 minutes on foot from the mayor’s office had taken at least three hours…and they always seemed to end up right back in the middle of the town. No matter how hard they tried, they just couldn’t reach the road they needed to get to Emma’s house. It was as if some force was preventing them from reaching Killian.

“I thought you said you could get us to the house…” Emma said.

“I said I could help you; I never said I could get you to the house.”

Emma was about to wring Cora’s neck but her father stopped her. “If she knows something, she better tell us.”

“Oh ye of little faith. I was simply waiting to find the crossing guard. She’ll be able to lead you to the house.” Suddenly, a woman appeared, flowing black locks tied low on her head in a ponytail. She was wearing loose-fitting dark blue pants, a light blue shirt and an orange vest. She was obviously the crossing guard that Cora was referring to, and so they marched toward her. As they got closer, everyone heard Gold let out an audible gasp.

“It can’t be…” he spoke aloud, everyone else other than Cora looking at him.

“Rumple?” the woman said aloud.

“Milah?” Gold was still unnerved by seeing his deceased former wife standing before him after so many centuries.

“What are you doing here? Are you…?”

“No, Milah, I am not. I am here because I was needed to help find Hook.”

“Killian?! Why would YOU want to find him?”

“Because he’s helping me.” Emma revealed herself from behind Gold and now stood in front of the woman that Killian had spent centuries seeking revenge over, and she could see why. Despite the shabby uniform, Milah was striking. “And now, hopefully, you can as well.”

“Who are you and why do you want to find Killian?”

Taking a deep breathe (she knew this was going to be a big step for her to admit), Emma said, “My name is Emma Swan. Killian is my True Love. I was the one that sent him here, because he thought he was sacrificing himself for my family and I by getting rid of the Dark One’s darkness for good. But I realized that I couldn’t live without him in my life. When I find him, I’m giving him half of my heart.”

Milah was, understandably, shocked. She looked over at Gold and asked, “Is everything she just said true?”

“It sure is, Grandma,” Henry said.

“Grandma?!”

“Did I forget to mention that Miss Swan here had a son with our Baelfire?”

“This is…a lot of take in all at one time…” Milah said, visibly trying to handle the onslaught of information dropped on her.

“I understand, but we really need to get to Killian,” Emma emphasized.

“Well, I guess you lot should follow me, then.” They followed Milah, and even though they could have sworn they had gone the way past Gold’s shop over and over again, they were finally able to go further than they had all those previous times. It seemed all that was necessary to get where the needed to go was an Underworld crossing guard.

When they finally reached the house, it looked as run down as the rest of the town: rusted pipes; fire damage; it even looked as if foundation settling had caused one half of the house to sink. Emma was about to charge through the front door, when a hand on her shoulder stopped her from doing so—it was Milah’s.

“Please, do whatever you can to help him. He deserves to be happy.”

“He spent hundreds of years looking for revenge for you. Sometimes it’s hard to compete with that.”

“You are literally going through hell to bring him home. That’s more than I would have ever been able to do.” A sense of understanding passed between the two women, as Milah gave Emma nod. Returning it back, Emma then set her sights on the front door. She didn’t even look back to the rest of the group as she said, “Let’s do this.”

***

The door creaked slightly as Emma opened it; if anyone was inside, she hoped they had not been alerted to their presence. As Emma searched for any possible clue as to location of Killian, a glowing red light began to show through the basement door frame. Moments later, she heard a painful groan that sounded all too familiar. It was the exact noise that had been haunting her ever since she plunged Excalibur through the heart of Killian.

“He’s here,” she said to the cavalry behind her. “I’m getting him out.”

“Emma, we came with you; we are going to see this through to the end as a team.” Her father tried to reason with her, but Emma wasn’t listening. “You guys stay here while I get him out of whatever is being done to him. I will most likely need reinforcements when we come back up from the basement.” Bracing herself for the coming altercation with the man keeping him there, Emma hugged her parents and son, and gave a thankful nod to Regina, Robin and Gold. Facing the door once again, she went to open the door carefully, just in case it was protected with magic. Surprisingly, no such barrier was there to prevent her from simply turning the knob and pulling the door open. Once the door was ajar, the dim glowing light became brighter, and the tortured wailing more audible. With one last look at her family and friends, Emma made her way down the stairs.

The cavernous expanse resembled that of the Dark Swan’s basement, complete with the iron chains that she used to hold Zelena and Killian. The only difference was that these chains were hanging from the sides of the rock walls, and hanging from them was a body. This body was bare from the waist up, sporting cuts, welts and bruises all over his chest and arms. Some of them were fresh wounds; others seemed to have been healing for quite some time. His hair was hanging limply from his head, covering his face. But peeking through the strands was a pair of unforgettable blue eyes, even if the color had dimmed from its usual brightness.

“Emma?!” Killian’s broken voice echoed off the walls of the cave, breaking Emma’s heart. She was the one that allowed him to sacrifice himself, and it was all for naught, thanks to Gold’s betrayal. He was going to be devastated when she told him what happened.

“Killian?” Emma whispered, careful not to alert any other person that may be in the vicinity. She walked up to him slowly, reaching her arm out to touch him. That was when she felt it—another presence.

“He really has lasted longer than I thought. Tough old man, he is.”

Emma turned to face Killian’s torturer—and was shocked to see a man, seemingly in his early 50’s, dressed in finely tailored black suit and leather shoes. His hair curled naturally, but not too much, and there was just a hint of grey in his light brown hair. But the smile---that bright, mischievous grin—hinted at much more.

“Sorry to interrupt this little reunion, but I do have work to do with your man here.”

“Wait! You…you know who I am?”

“Of course! Your Emma Swan: the Savior; former Dark One; lady love to this lout over here,” the distinguished gentlemen pointed with his thumb over to the limp body of Killian. “I know all about you, dear. And I know that you have come to take him from me, but that’s not going to happen.”

“We will see about that,” Emma answered back just before blasting the man with her magic. To her surprise, it actually did knock him over onto his back. She could feel the power emanating from this man, so she assumed that she thought she would have had to pack a little more punch to get him to the ground.

She could hear the man laughing as he picked himself up from the ground. “I do like your spunk, Emma. But you do realize it will take more than that to get him out of here. The souls here are just that: souls. You have to have a heart in order to leave the Underworld. And no one leaves without my permission.”

That simple statement finally confirmed the identity of the man, even though she knew it since he appeared. “I know that…which is why I came here to do this.” Emma wished she could have had a photograph of the man’s face when she pulled out her own heart, because it was absolutely priceless. Emma pushed her hand inside of her own chest, and plucked her own heart out. The man was still too shocked to move while Emma split it in two, placing one half into the chest of Killian and the other half back in her own. It was as if it gave Killian new life, because there was suddenly more color to his cheeks, and the light in his eyes returned.

“What is happening?!”

“Hades, apparently you don’t know True Love when you see it.” Smiling, she leaned over to Killian, placing her lips onto his. A sudden whoosh sounds accompanied by a gust of wind was all it took to know her plan had worked. She also noticed that Hades had disappeared.

The chains fell open, releasing a now healed, now much more alive Killian Jones. He couldn’t help but smile as he rushed to Emma, lifting her up and swinging her around while in his arms. As he lowered her, he made sure to return to favor by kissing her with as much passion as love as he could muster. 

“Darling, was that…?” Killian was nervous about the answer, but he still wanted to hold out hope.

“It was,” she answered, smiling from ear to ear.

“How did you know it would work?”

“I didn’t, but I mean…fourth time’s the charm, right?”

“Absolutely, love. I still can’t believe you went up against Hades for me.

“Killian, remember when I said I couldn’t lose you?” After Killian nodded, she continued, “Well, I meant it. I can’t live without you.” She placed her hand over his chest, and said, “And now, neither of us can live without the other.”

“Took a page right out of your parent’s book, I see.”

“What can I say? ‘I will always find you’.”

“Stealing your father’s line as well?” he said jokingly.

“I mean every word.”

“Aye, I know, lass.” Killian swopped down for another kiss, and against their moistened lips, he whispered, “I love you, Emma Swan.”

“And I, you, Killian Jones. Now, let’s go home.”

Killian’s smile faltered. “I…I can’t leave…”

Emma couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She literally went to hell to bring him home and now he was saying he couldn’t leave? Frustrated, Emma yelled, “Killian, we have to go! For all we know, Hades is thinking of a way to keep us here longer than we had intended. My parents, Robin, Regina, Henry—hell, even Gold—all came here to help get you home. Why in would you want to stay?”

Emma was fairly certain the silence that passed between them was the longest they had endured. Finally, he broke it by telling her, “It’s…it’s Liam.”

“Liam? What about Liam?”

Looking straight at her, Killian said, “He’s here.” 


End file.
